Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, Deerfield, Ill., 1997. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 176-181).

Doctor Theologiae - DTh / Reconstruction theology is widely regarded as one of the most influential approaches to contemporary African Christian theology - alongside others such as inculturation theology, liberation theology, African women's theology, evangelical theology and Pentecostal theology. In this thesis I offer a critical assessment of one of the main exponents of such reconstruction theology, namely the Kenyan theologian Jesse Mugambi. I explore the question of how his position on the notion of reconstruction should be understood. One point of entry into understanding Mugambi's views on reconstruction is to explore his position on the relationship between the church and the coming reign of God. In the history of Christianity this relationship has been understood in widely divergent ways. The task of this thesis will therefore be to examine, position, analyse and assess Mugambi's particular view in this regard. This will be done on the basis of a close reading of Mugambi's publications such as African Christian Theology: an Introduction (1989), From Liberation to Reconstruction: African Christian Theology after the Cold War (1995), Christian Theology and Social Reconstruction (2003), and numerous chapters in publications by African theologians.

Many African Independent Churches emerged during the colonial era in central Kenya and western Nigeria. At times they were opposed by government officials and missionaries. Most scholars have limited the field of enquiry to the flash-points of this encounter, thereby emphasizing the relationship at its most severe. This study questions current assumptions about the encounter which have derived from these studies, arguing that both government and missionary officials in Kenya and Nigeria exhibited a broader range of perspectives and responses to African Independent Churches. To characterize them as mainly hostile to African Independent Churches is inaccurate. This study also explores the various encounters between African Independent Churches and African politicians, clergymen, and local citizens. While some scholars have discussed the positive role of Africans in encouraging the growth of independent Christianity, this study will discuss the history in greater depth and complexity. The investigation will show the importance of understanding the encounter on both a local and national level, and the relationships between the two. It is taken for granted that European officials had authority over African leaders, but in regard to this topic many Africans possessed a largely unrecognized ability to influence and shape European perceptions of new religious movements. Finally, this thesis will discuss how African Independent Churches sometimes provoked negative responses from others through confrontational missionary methods, caustic rhetoric, intimidation and even violence. These three themes resurface throughout the history of the encounter and illustrate how current assumptions can be reinterpreted. This thesis suggests the necessity of expanding the primary scholarly focuses, as well as altering the language and basic assumptions of the previous histories of the encounter.

Thesis (M.A. in Theological Studies)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 87-91).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Columbia Biblical Seminary, Columbia, S.C., 2003. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 196-202).

The role of the African Canadian pastor transcended the responsibilities of a religious leader of a local church to become the leader of the African Canadian community and its emissary to the larger white community. Through his exemplary Christian faith and practice, William Andrew White Jr. became a central figure in the African Canadian community. His role in African Canadian life was fluid and adaptive to the adversities of slavery, segregation, discrimination, and racism; over the years his role grew from spiritual leader providing care, self-esteem, and protection for his local church to also becoming one of polemicist, activist, and protest leader for the African Canadian community in general. Overall, this dissertation argues that the experiences gained by William Andrew White Jr. during the periods of Reconstruction and Redemption in the United States and the discrimination and racism he incurred in Canada, were foundational in shaping White’s theology. Additionally studying his influences and motivations assists in understanding White’s theology and his praxis for race relations and social justice; it is a theology that sought to foster racial harmony through black economic uplift and black socio-political engagement that laid the groundwork for the Canadian Civil Rights Movement. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that William White was a progenitor of the Canadian Civil Rights Movement and, while his national presence among the white community was not that of Martin Luther King Jr.’s, he did have a prominent presence among the black community in the Maritimes and, had he lived longer, may have become a significant national figure in Canada. Furthermore, the role he played setting the foundation for the Canadian Civil Rights Movement was similar to that of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

This thesis seeks to offer new perspectives on the role of women in African-American Christian denominations in the United States in the period between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century. It situates the changes in the roles available to black women in their churches in the context of ecclesiastical politics. By offering explanations of the growth of black denominations in the South after the Civil War and the political alignments in the leadership of the churches, it seeks to offer more powerful explanations of differences in the treatment of women in distict denominations. It explores the distinct worship practices of African-American Christianity and reflects on their relationship to denominational structure and character, and gender issues. Education was central to the participation of women in African-American Christianity in the late nineteenth century, so the thesis discusses the growth of black colleges under the auspices of the black churches. Finally it also explores the complex relationship between domestic ideology, the politics of respectability, and female participation in the black churches.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1983. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-348).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, 1983. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-348).